


The Gemstone Paladins

by Dreaming_Dragons



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Keith is a smol child, Swearing, at somepoint not rn, gem au, tags will be added as story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-21 06:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11938050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreaming_Dragons/pseuds/Dreaming_Dragons
Summary: Keith has been with the gems for his whole life; He has trained with them, made bonds, and is almost ready to join them in their fight against the forces that wish to harm Earth.Can he keep up, or will he have to stay behind?





	1. Familiar Faces

“Beryl I swear if you don't put me down right now I'll fucking destroy you” “Moldavite, there's a kid here, you can't say that!”  
“Then put me down! And I doubt Keith gives a shit, he's what... two?”  
“Moldavite he's twelve. You're off by ten years.”  
“Shush.  
ANYHOW, Why did you kidnap me? I was working on something.”  
“You said you would join us for a game. Right, Keith?”  
“You did. We've got it set up already.”  
The young boy said, gesturing to the table.  
“But-” “Nope, you said you would. You gotta.” Beryl said, leaning down and blinking his eyes.  
“That doesn't work on me and you know it. What're we playing?” Moldavite asked, sitting down.  
“Clue.” Keith said, flicking a piece over.  
“Gotcha. Is Diopside playing?”  
Beryl shrugged.  
“Still hasn't come back from scouting. He may not be back for a while.”  
He said, sitting down..  
“Do you want to play Professor Plum again?” Keith asked. “Heck yes, Keith..”

 

By the time Diopside came back, the game had been finished, and Keith had been sent off to bed.  
Beryl and Moldavite were cleaning up from dinner, but they stopped when their leader came through the door.  
“Is Keith asleep?” the tall man asked, crossing his arms.  
Moldavite nodded.  
“Out like a light.” She said, snapping her fingers.  
“Find anything new?” Beryl asked, setting a kettle on the stove.  
“There's evidence of a monster in the area. Didn't see it, however.”  
“Do we need to take it down?”  
“Not soon. It seemed small, though I suppose it could have been gently scratching things.”  
“Small enough we could take Keith to fight it? He could use some more battle practice.” Beryl said.  
“Yeah, I flipped him over earlier. Could use some more work on his foot work.” Moldavite said.  
Diopside nodded.  
“Noted.”  
“..I hate to ask again but... any sign of..?” Beryl asked, turning back to the stove as the kettle whistled.  
Diopside shook his head.  
“None.”  
All three lowered their heads and sighed.

The group should have been four, not three.  
Aventurine, the sharpshooter, the team flirt, the jokester, had gone missing years ago.  
Long before Keith had been born.  
He had gone off on a solo mission – A monster, small enough that Keith could have taken it out – and hadn't come back.  
Upon searching the area, it was clear there had been a fight.  
Trees bent at odd angles, grasses bent over or completely burnt away, a few rocks smashed clean in two.  
There were no gems shards, but no gems either.  
Whether it snuck up behind him, or there were two, they would never know.

 

“Keith? Keith, it's eight. O'clock.. Are you awake yet?”  
Keith shoved his UFO print comforter off, wiggling his toes in the air.  
With a small 'oof' he rolled off, landing on the floor with a thump.  
“'M now.” He said quietly, sitting up.  
“We've got a surprise for you today, so go ahead and get dressed. Beryl made breakfast.”  
“M'kay. I'll be down in a minute, Diopside.”  
Keith quickly got dressed, ran a comb through his hair, and open his door to head down the hall.  
Like he did most mornings, he slowly walked down the hall, looking at all the pictures.  
He stopped in the middle, to look at his favorite two.  
One was a picture of his parents; Umbalite -his mother- and his dad.  
The two of them were in a forest, surrounded by trees and sunlight.  
The second was the 'old team'.  
Diopside and his mother were standing to the side at attention, while Beryl and Moldavite posed with someone he had never met.  
“Keith?” Diopside called, his head poking around the corner of the hall.  
As he stepped out, Keith had assumed a fighting position, and tackled him.  
“Woah there!” He said, picking Keith up.  
“I've been attacked by a wild animal, get the cage Beryl!” He joked, placing him in a chair.  
He ruffled Keith's hair before sitting down himself.  
“Be sure to eat up, we're taking you on a mission later today.”  
Keith's head shot up from the plate of eggs and grits Beryl had set in front of him, eyes shining “Really?”  
Beryl and Diopside nodded. “We'll be headed out this morning, once we're all finished up here..”  
Keith hurriedly finished his breakfast, and cleared off his plate.  
Moldavite was already cleaning the other ones off, being the only one who didn't eat breakfast.  
Most days she didn't even come down until ten, as she was usually immersed in what ever she was researching that week.  
“We have more peanut butter, right?” Moldavite chirped, handing Keith a wet plate to dry.  
“Um... I think? Probably. Did you run out of peanut butter cookies again?” Beryl asked, walking over to accept the now-dry plate from Keith.  
“Yes.”  
“We'll make another batch this afternoon.” Beryl set the plate in the cabinet before taking the next.

Fairly soon the kitchen was clean, Diopside had Kieth's bag packed, and the four of them were ready to leave.  
“Lights off?”  
“Check.”  
“Door locked?”  
“Yes sir.”  
“Right then; Let's go.”  
They all trooped behind Diopside as he led them to the Teludov.  
The ornate crystal stood about two feet high, around five feet in diameter, and was the best way to get anywhere far away.  
Beryl and Moldavite hopped up on to it.  
The slab lit up with a bright, crystal blue light. It slowly changed hues, shifting from blues to pale purples.  
Diopside helped Keith up, then stepped on himself.  
“Ready?”  
“Yup.”  
“Yes.”  
“Yessir.”  
With a blinding flash of light, the teludov activated, whisking the four of them away.

Once Keith had blinked the blinding light away, he took in his surroundings.  
Big, wide open flowers covered the forest floor, littering it in gold and silver hues.  
Enormous trees rose far, far above, almost blotting out the sunshine.  
Keith stared in awe at the scene, while Beryl hoisted Moldavite onto his shoulders.  
“Remember; We're looking for a small, dark blue monster. Last time I saw it, it was in this area.”  
“Gotcha.” Moldavite said, weaving the stems of a few flowers together.  
“Here's some more.” Beryl said, handing her another handful of the flowers.  
Keith scanned the area, looking for signs of animals.  
A few birds flew off when Diopside moved towards them, but other than that there was no sign of anything.  
“You two check to the east; Keith and I will check over to the west.”  
Diopside said, heading towards the edge of the grove.  
“We'll yell if we find anything.” Moldavite said, deftly tying the end of the daisy-chained flowers together.  
With a 'whoop' she set it on Beryl's head as he strode off.  
“Let me know if you see anything Keith. It may be small, but that doesn't mean it can't be dangerous.”  
Keith nodded as he trotted behind Diopside.  
“You have your knife?”  
Keith pulled the blade from its sheath, holding it up to show his leader.  
Diopside nodded, and turned back around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heidi-ho there!   
> It's super late so I'm probably going to have to edit this in the morning, sorry to anyone who's reading this now ;^w^  
> This is my third fanfiction to date, and the second one I've ever posted.  
> My apologize if anyone is OOC! I usually write my own characters, not other people's.   
> I... I don't really have much to say right now, sorry .w.
> 
> If you have any questions, notice any discrepancies, please let me know!
> 
> (If you'd like some characters to interact more, or just have a general suggestion, you can send that to me at my writing blog, https://draconican-drabbles.tumblr.com/ask :>)
> 
> (Sorry about the notes, still figuring this stuff out//)


	2. Monsters and Cookies

Keith and Diopside walked in companionable silence for a while, both scanning the area for the little monster.  
Diopside explained what it looked like – Small, canine in nature, and a deep, cobalt-blue color – while they walked.  
“If you see any thing rustling, let me know.”  
They continued walking for a while longer, before Diopside stopped.  
“See here? These stalks have been shoved down.. Something's been through here.”  
He said, crouching down.  
“The monster?”  
“Possibly. Looks to be around the right size, though it may have just been moving around a lot.”  
“Is that its den?” Keith asked, pointing further along the little track.  
“I think so. Doesn't look like it shies away from eating....” Diopside said, picking up a bone.  
The two of them stood back up, enthusiasm renewed.  
They walked a little longer, before a shrill noise made them stop.  
Diopside whipped back around, the long white tuft of fluff on his head drifting into his eye.  
“They must have found it.” He said.  
With a nod to Keith, the two of them started running – Diopside's longer legs gave him an advantage, and Keith was quickly left behind.

 

He ran as fast and as long as he could, but eventually he had to stop.  
He could heard shouting up ahead, cries of “Get it!” and “It's over there!”.  
By the time he caught up with them, the monster was still loose.  
It whizzed past, racing up to Diopside and bouncing off of him to race over to Moldavite.  
Beryl was shooting at it, the distance between it and the energy blasts becoming more and more with each passing moment.  
It bounced off of Diopside again, narrowly avoiding being grabbed.  
“Keith! To your left!” Moldavite yelled, rushing towards him.  
The monster slammed into him, knocking him over..

It dug its claws into his jacket, poking tiny holes in it.  
Its hot, stinky breath clogged Keith's nose, making him cough., while light glinted off of the deep blue gemstone in place of its nose, made it harder for him to see.  
“Keith!” Beryl yelled, aiming his weapon.  
It shot its head up, snarling.  
Keith pulled his knife from its sheath, and plunged it into the monsters side.  
It screamed and jumped off, trying and failing to dislodge the knife from its ribs.  
Moldavite launched herself at it, summoning her gauntlet as she did so.  
She hit its side, sending a shock of electricity through its body.  
It fell to the ground, spasming as Moldavite sat down on it..  
“Somebody have a knife? Or something?”  
She said, placing her hand on its face to keep it down.  
“My knife is on the other side.” Keith said., standing up.  
“Good job with that. Right in the ribs.” Moldavite praised, giving him a thumbs up.  
She turned around to where Diopside was walking to them  
“This thing's waking up.”  
Diopside knelt down beside it; With a deft flick of his sword, the creature's body went up in a puff of smoke.  
Moldavite hit the ground with an 'Oof!', while Diopside caught the glittering blue gemstone.  
He quickly had it bubbled in a grey sphere, which was sent off with a little tap.  
He helped Moldavite up, while Beryl rushed over to check on Keith.  
“It didn't bite you, did it?” He asked, dusting Keith's jacket off.  
“I'm fine.” Keith said, shrugging his Uncle off.  
“aw man, it tore your jacket! We still have that sewing kit, right, Moldavite? Right? I think so....” He mused.  
“Well that was easy. What's next?” Moldavite said, moving over to pick something up off the ground.  
She ran back over to Diopside, stood up on her tip-toes, and tossed it on his head.  
“That's all.” Diopside said, adjusting the crown of flowers to sit better on his head.  
“Though you are welcome to sit here for today.”

 

They didn't stay in the area much longer than that; The only thing left to be done was Moldavite's insistence on making Keith a flower crown.  
“Your head is bare.” She insisted, searching around for flowers that were mostly purple.  
Most of the few purple flowers were tiny, however, so Moldavite had to use others.  
Once she finished, she set it on his head with a satisfied sigh.

The four of them returned home; Moldavite zipped off to her room, saying that 'She had a lot of coding to catch up on'.  
She made a quick look-through the cabinets for any last cookies there might be before disappearing.  
Diopside stayed outside, opting to train instead.  
“I'll be inside later. Just call me if you need me.”  
So it was just Keith and Beryl right now, chilling in the kitchen.  
“Keith? Do you want to help me bake these?” Beryl asked, holding up a jar of peanut butter.  
Keith nodded, sitting down on one of the kitchen stools.  
Berly scooped some ingredients into a bowl, then set it and a spoon in front of Keith.  
“That's Moldavite taken care of – Do you want chocolate or vanilla?”  
He asked, bringing out another bowl and a whisk.  
Keith thought for a moment before replying. “Vanilla.”  
“Good choice.”


	3. Batman vs. Godzilla

“Alright Keith; I'm going to try and sweep your feet out from under you. Remember the stance I showed you.”  
Keith nodded at what Diopside told him.  
He adjusted his feet, moving them closer together, keeping his weight on them.  
After Keith had finished helping Beryl make the cookies, watched Moldavite appear out of nowhere and snatch half the plate, before Diopside had come inside and asked Keith if he wanted to spar.  
He had agreed, and before they had left Beryl had taken his jacket to try and fix it.  
“Ready?”  
Keith nodded  
Diopside zipped forward, kicking his leg out.  
Keith moved backwards, narrowly dodging Diopside..  
Fast as a cheetah, Diopside's other leg shot out, knocking Keith over.  
“Keith! Move faster, go to the sides.” Keith looked up; Moldavite was hanging out of the window to her room, a half-eaten cookie in her hand.  
“That's right.” Diopside nodded. “To the sides, or far enough back. Right now, to the sides is your best bet.”

They ran through the stance a dozen more times, Moldavite giving 'helpful' tips each time, before it was evident that Keith was tuckered out.  
“Why don't you go wash up?” Diopside asked.  
With the smallest of nods, Keith hoisted himself back up and headed inside.

 

“Is there any chance we can save it?” Diopside asked quietly.  
Moldavite sighed.  
“You ask me that every time.... Maybe? I don't... I'm not sure.” She mumbled.  
She huffed another sigh.  
Every time they caught a gem, it was the same; Try and heal it, fail miserably, move on to the next.  
Same shit as it had been for the last twenty deca-phebs..  
Diopside sat down next to her, legs crossed..  
“I might be able to reverse a little of it, with enough of Beryl's tears, but I doubt it'd be a full recovery.”  
“A little is better than nothing.”  
“But.” Moldavite said, tearing her eyes away from her screens.  
“Are you sure this is one of us?.” She asked..  
“...Yes.”

 

Keith woke up the next morning sore, and still kinda tired.  
He sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes.  
The smell of vanilla hit him, and he looked over to his nightstand.

A slice of the cake from last night was sitting there, with a neatly written note next to it.

_'Don't tell Diopside, okay? ;)'_ The handwriting was Beryl's.  
Which made sense, seeing as no one else would leave a slice of cake for breakfast.  
He picked the slice of cake up and headed out of his room to look for a fork.

Oddly enough, Moldavite wasn't holed away in her room this morning.  
“Beryl, there's no way; Even if Batman did exist, there's no way he could beat _God-fucking-zilla.”_  
She said, setting her hands on the table roughly.  
“Batman has anti-shark spray! I'm sure he has something to fight off Godzilla.”  
“Godzilla is a giant lizard! It would eat him. Morning Keith.”  
Beryl looked up from the sheets of paper he had been staring at.  
“Good morning Keith. Oh uh... Did I forget to give you a fork?” He asked.  
Keith nodded.  
Beryl stood up to get a fork, while Moldavite swiveled her chair around to look at Keith.  
“ _Keith._ In a fight, who would win: Batman, or Godzilla.”  
She asked, staring at him.  
The kitchen was silent, except for Beryl shuffling a few papers.  
“...Mothman.” Keith eventually replied, walking over to the countertop to collect his fork.  
_“....Keith that wasn't an option.”_ Moldavite whispered, confused.  
“Alright, I'm writing this down. This is fridge material.” Beryl said, laughing.  
“Mothman, really? He's so small though. Doesn't even have any special powers.”  
Keith took a bite of his cake.  
“He's Mothman. He doesn't need any special powers.”  
Beryl stood up and walked over to the fridge.  
Setting a piece of paper on it, he moved a magnet over to hold it in place.  
Scribbled at the top was Batman throwing a batarang at Godzilla, while a humanoid moth flew over them.  
At the bottom, the moth was standing on top of the other two.  
“There we go.”  
Satisfied with his handiwork, he sat back down.  
“Where's Diopside?” Keith asked.  
“Messing around with my stuff upstairs.” Moldavite replied.  
“Are we going to be training again today?”  
“Probably not. Diopside probably has a schedule or something, we'll ask him when he comes down.” Beryl replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow - Five Kudos?? I wasn't even expecting one tbh!  
> I'm glad y'all are enjoying my fic :3
> 
> This one is a shorter chapter, sorry about that.  
> It's also meant to be more fluff than story, namely bc I need more practice with it.
> 
>  
> 
> I'd also like to point out that:  
> I know nothing about Mothman, and only the slightest amount of stuff about fighting.  
> So if anything about that part seems off, that's why .w.


	5. Chapter 5

“Psst.. Moldavite. You awake?”  
“No.”  
“Mind if I come in?”  
“Nope.”  
Beryl gently pushed the doorway open.  
Moldavite sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by a series of computers and other tech, gem and human alike.   
She stared at him from over the top of her laptop, light glinting off her glasses.  
“Any luck?”  
Moldavite stared silently for a moment, then heaved a sigh.  
“No.. None at all.”  
Beryl quietly entered the room, and shut the door, grimacing at the click of the lock.  
He'd have to ask Diopside again if he could remake the doors.  
If not with gem tech, then with human tech.  
“You want some more cookies?”  
“No.”  
“Want to watch some t.v? Keith isn't using it right now.”  
“No.”  
“....you really should take a break.”  
“Don't need to.”  
Moldavite grumbled, typing on her computer again.  
“You've been at this for a while. When was the last time you got outside?”  
Beryl asked, picking his way through the wires and discarded projects   
carefully.

“You were there.”  
Beryl grimaced.  
“You sure you don't need a break? We could go take a walk or something. Diopside's in the kitchen, if Keith needs something-”  
“No, I'm fine.”  
She cut him off with a wave.  
She reached out to move something behind her computer; she knocked over something sitting beside it.  
“Fuck.”  
She mumbled the curse, picking the picture frame up.  
She held it out to Beryl.  
“Mind setting that on the dresser over there?”  
Beryl nodded, accepting it from her.  
“I- oh.”  
He remembered this picture.  
He'd been the one to take it, after all.  
Moldavite and her kindergarten 'sibling' Moldavite (facet m71 cut.. something or other. M71 for short) and he had been scouting out a section of earth for some old gem construct.  
Needless to say, the two Moldavites had gotten distracted by a rainstorm, and had had a mud fight, covering eachother in mud as they laughed and fought.  
Beryl had gotten a picture of them, much to their chagrin.  
That had been a long, long time ago.  
Before the rebellion, and before shit had hit the fan in the form of four angry diamonds.  
He set the frame down.  
Those were memories he'd much rather not revisit.  
“...The icecream parlor should still be open. C'mon.”  
He sat down next to Moldavite, sighing.  
“We'll figure out what the diamonds did, alright? And then we'll get M71 back, and Lazuli, and everyone else, okay?”  
Moldavite didn't respond, and sat where she was, curling closer into herself.  
“....We can't beat the diamonds. We don't know what it was they did, and we're not going to be able to reverse it. We didn't _have_ the best tech at the time, I know that, and for all we know it was a permanent thing. Irreversible. We're never going to get M71 back. We won't be able to get Lazuli back either, even if we _can_ find him. We're fucked.”  
She snapped, slamming her computer shut.  
Beryl wrapped his arms around her quietly.  
“We _will_ fix them. We will get them back, we'll find a way to get Moonstone and Pearl back, okay? And then we'll throw you and M71 into a mudpit and you can fight, all you want.”  
He murmured as she hugged him back.  
“c'mon, you need a break. And I know the perfect place.”

He said, picking her up.

“....can you open the door?”  
“Nah. I'm not going to help my kidnapper kidnap me.”  
“...Please?”  
“Nope.”  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoof, sorry about not posting for a while!!  
> I'm hoping I"ll be able to post more this summer.  
> (the tl;dr reason I stopped: depression was kicking my ass, I stopped writing, and eventually forgot where I was going with this, so I stopped and started writing my own stories. I still don't remember exactly where I was going, but... I'll figure it out again.)  
> Kind of a shorter chapter, set a little after the first three (mostly, because I don't remember where I was going, as I said)  
> Comments help me continue, as they let me know that people are reading this and would like more!


	6. Chapter 6

“Hey Diopside.”  
Diopside looked up from his book and mug of coffee as he heard his name.  
Beryl was passing by the kitchen door, Moldavite curled up in his arms, looking like a small angry raccoon.  
“Heading out?”  
He asked, sipping his drink.  
“Yeah. Mind keeping an ear out for Keith?”  
He nodded.  
“I doubt he'll wake up, but yes. Try not to stray too far from home, alright?”  
“Hear ya loud and clear, Dad.”  
Moldavite said, giving him a thumbs up.  
“Not your father.”  
“Loud and clear, space padre.”  
Diopside tried not to growl as she passed by, looking smug..  
“don't get hurt.”  
“We're gonna di-”  
“see ya later, Diopside!”   
Beryl shouted as he whisked Moldavite out of the kitchen.  
He shook his head.

  
“Can I open my eyes back up?”  
Moldavite asked.  
“Not just yet.”  
Moldavite wasn't entirely sure of where she was.  
Beryl had used the warp pad, so realistically they could be anywhere.  
She could smell wind, but no salt or dust, so that ruled out the kindergarten and the sea.  
Some forest, maybe?  
Forests (or outside really) weren't her thing anymore, but she'd humor Beryl for now.  
“Can you tell me where we're going?”  
She asked, placing her hand over her eyes.  
“I can give you a hint – It's a place I enjoy going to.”  
“Well we're already outside the kitchen so I think I can rule that out.”  
The continued walking quietly for a few more minutes before Beryl stopped; something clicked as, before he continued for a few more steps, turned around, and sat down..  
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.”

They were in a clearing.  
It had been cleared out, cleaned of rocks and weeds, and replanted with a garden.  
Strings of soft yellow lights lined the circle of trees, joined by gently flashing fireflies.  
Three pillars of stacked rocks, purple, yellow and blue flowers planted around them, stuck out the most.  
“...so this is what you've been doing in your spare time? Aside from baking, I mean.”  
Moldavite stated.  
Beryl nodded.  
“I can't bake all the time – Keith and I don't really eat enough for me to do that – so gardening is the next best thing.”  
“Hm. It suits you. Now lemme down so I can see these flowers.”  
Beryl set her down, not moving from his spot.  
“I tried to think about what kind of flowers they might like......”  
He said as Moldavite walked away.  
A smattering of Lilacs for Umabalite, yellow mums for M71, and bluebells for Adventurine.  
“...yeah. I think they'd like them”  
She whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoof, remind me to a) stop writing at 10pm, and b) look up more writing prompts because day to day stuff really isn't my forte....  
> Still working on getting back into the groove of this story, so I'm sorry if updates are still scattered and short!

**Author's Note:**

> Heidi-ho there!   
> It's super late so I'm probably going to have to edit this in the morning, sorry to anyone who's reading this now ;^w^  
> This is my third fanfiction to date, and the second one I've ever posted.  
> My apologize if anyone is OOC! I usually write my own characters, not other people's.   
> I... I don't really have much to say right now, sorry .w.
> 
> If you have any questions, notice any discrepancies, please let me know!
> 
> (If you'd like some characters to interact more, or just have a general suggestion, you can send that to me at my writing blog, https://draconican-drabbles.tumblr.com/ask :>)


End file.
